Makos. 22a.

1- In continuation to the case of the Mishna, of one doing one act and simultaneously transgressing eight ‘Lavin’,

1. A Kohen
2. who is a Nazir
3. plowing over Tum’as Meis,
4. with a Hekdesh ox
5. and donkey where
6. Kil’ayim was planted in a vineyard, in
7. Shemitah,
8. on Yom Tov

Our Gemara suggests that perhaps we can add some more ‘Lavin’:

What if this fellow was plowing on the spot that an ‘Eglah Arufa’ was beheaded? The Torah prohibits one to plow or plant there.

 

We discussed the question of Reb Shimon of Kinon (here) (directions) in his rare to find book ‘Sefer Hakrisus’, as to why one is allowed to plow anywhere in Eretz Isroel if perhaps that is a spot that the Mitzvah of Eglah Arufa was performed?

We cannot answer that we follow the ‘rov’ – meaning that the majority of fields did not have an Eglah Arufa….because the rule of ‘Kovua‘ (Halacha 11) should apply! (Zevachim 73a, top)

[He also ask there why we don’t all read the Megillah on the 14th and the 15th day of Adar since there is a remote chance that the city we’re in once had a wall around it!]

We mentioned the opinion of the Rambam that “Nachal Ei’son” where the Eglah Arufa was beheaded was in or at the banks of a strong flowing river.

וְהוֹרִדוּ זִקְנֵי הָעִיר הַהִוא אֶת הָעֶגְלָה אֶל נַחַל אֵיתָן אֲשֶׁר לֹא יֵעָבֵד בּוֹ וְלֹא יִזָּרֵעַ וְעָרְפוּ שָׁם

אֶת הָעֶגְלָה בַּנָּחַל:

Parenthetically- this Reb Shimshon, despite being a great scholar and Kabbalist is the one who famously said:  “when I pray, I pray just like a child“.

Meaning that even if one is well versed in the order of the Sefiros etc. when praying one should think of G-D himself.

See here as he is quoted by the Tzemach Tzedek in ‘Shoresh Mitzvas Ha’Tefila’ Chater 8.

2- The Gemara suggest another scenario: a fellow who swears not to plow and goes ahead and plows, thereby transgressing another Lav.

The Gemara says that since such vows can be nullified, much as all donations etc. can be nullified, and thus it does not fit with the eight Lavin mentioned in the Mishna.

We discussed the humorous story of the Ropshitzer Rebbe who gave advice to one of his Chassidim that didn’t want his wife around….Here is the story with slight variations. (Page 3)

3- How about the Nazir? Can that indeed be nullified?

The Gemara states that the case of the Mishna where this fellow was plowing in a cemetery was a Kohen and Nazir. This Nazir, the Gemara adds, was a “Shimshon-type Nazir”.

Meaning that he was a ‘lifetime Nazir’; thus no nullification would be permitted.

In 1965, the Rebbe, upon concluding the 11 months of saying Kaddish for his mother, Rebbetzin Chana (who passed away on Vov Tishrei 5725) made a Siyum on Meseches Nazir. [The Rebbe spoke on the 5th of Menachem Av as that year was a leap year].

The Messechta ends with a discussion on the status of Shmuel Hanavi, whose mother ‘Rebbetzen’ Chanah vowed that if she were to have a son she would “never cut his hair”, so was he, Shmuel, a Nazir like Shimshon? Etc.

We mentioned the idea of the Rebbe on this topic:

Briefly – how can a mother commit her unborn son to be a Nazir? Ditto with Shimshon whose entire Nazir status came from what his parents heard from an angle that appeared to them advising them that their soon to be born son shall be a Nazir?  [Albeit not a 100% Nazir].

The Rebbe suggest that both Shimshon and Shmuel’s Nazir status came about in two stages. Prior to becoming Bar Mitzvah they “acted’ like a Nazir. Both their parents’ commitment (only) obligated them to act like a Nazir.

But it did not take effect until after their Bar Mitzvah when they accepted their Nazir status on their own.

Now here is the clincher – once they accepted it at the age of 13 it retroactively gave them the status of being a Nazir from birth due to their parent’s commitment- which is considered a valid beginning!

As an example the Rebbe bring a case of a child convert who must go thru two acts: circumcision and mikvah.

Now a child Ger when turning Bar or Bas Mitzvah then needs to recommit. He can also renounce it and is considered not Jewish!

Once he commits he is considered a Yid from the time of his Bris and the Tevilah preformed as a child suffices and he does not need to go to the Mikvah again.

The problem is that how is that pre-Bar Mitzvah Mikvah act valid? The fact that one has the option to renounce his Geirus and reverts back to being a Goy  means that all his acts prior to his commitment at his Bar mitzvah are worthless and therefore should not be valid at all?

Rebbe uses this as proof says that a commitment prior to the real event taking place is sufficient to be considered a valid beginning.

Similarly, every adult Ger needs to go thru Milah and Tevila.  What is his status between these two acts?

-The Rebbe quotes the Ramban that says that the Torah intentionally allows for a time period between the two so that he, the potential convert, can change his mind!

[One can assume that after the trauma of one’s adult Bris there is ‘a lot’ to think about….]

 

So this Ger is in limbo until he goes to the Mikvah. But once he does, he is retroactively a Ger from the circumcision.

So this brings us back to the process of the Nazir status of Shimshon and Shmuel:

Their parents’ commitment on their behalf, their acting as a Nazir until their Bar Mitzvah (a valid beginning) and finally their self-made commitment at that point which solidified their Nazir status retroactively back to their birth.